Italy’s Matteo Trentin timed his sprint perfectly to clinch the 14th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday.

Team Sky’s Chris Froome bounced back from a disappointing 13th leg and retained his yellow jersey by staying well out of trouble over the 191-kilometer trek from Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule to Lyon.

With only 15km to go before the finish line, Sojasun’s Julien Simon sprinted clear of the peloton and despite a dominant display on the penultimate climb, the 27 year old’s hopes of becoming the first French stage winner of the race’s 100th edition were dashed as he was eventually caught by Michael Albasini and Jan Bakelants.

Trentin then stepped it up a gear to secure a hard fought win which sees the Omega Pharma-QuickStep team claim their fourth stage following victories by British sprinter Mark Cavendish and German Tony Martin.

The first three were followed 7 minutes, 17 seconds later by the mass of riders in the peloton including the likes of Froome, who still leads Bauke Mollema and Alberto Contador by more than two minutes in the overall standings.